[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 30 (Monday, July 31, 2000)]
[Page 1679]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Valles Caldera Preservation Act

July 25, 2000

    I am very pleased today to sign bipartisan legislation authorizing 
protection of New Mexico's Baca Ranch as the new Valles Caldera National 
Preserve.
    From time to time, we are presented with an opportunity to save a 
truly magnificent piece of America's rich natural endowment. Today we 
seize one such opportunity. At the heart of the scenic Jemez Mountains 
west of Santa Fe, the Baca Ranch contains the remarkable Valles 
Caldera--the collapsed crater of an ancient volcano--and sustains one of 
our Nation's largest wild elk herds. Thanks to the careful stewardship 
of the Dunigan family, this extraordinary landscape appears today much 
as it did when the first settlers arrived. And thanks to the bipartisan 
efforts of the New Mexico delegation, we will ensure that it remains 
healthy and whole for generations to come.
    I commend the Dunigans, for offering us the chance to open this 
treasure to the American people; Senators Bingaman and Domenici, and 
Representatives Udall and Wilson, for helping to lead this historic 
conservation effort; and the leaders of the Santa Clara Pueblo, for 
sharing with us their reverence for this land.
    Today's success should inspire us to work even harder to conserve 
America's natural heritage. The acquisition of Baca Ranch was made 
possible with increased conservation funding I secured last year through 
my lands legacy initiative. I have proposed another significant increase 
in lands legacy funding for the coming fiscal year. Unfortunately, 
appropriations bills passed by both the House and the Senate would 
provide only a third of my request, cutting lands legacy funding 
considerably below this year's level. In addition, riders attached to 
several appropriations measures aim to cripple wildlife protections, 
surrender public lands to private interests, and hamper commonsense 
efforts to combat global warming. I urge Congress to drop these anti-
environmental riders and to fully fund my Lands Legacy initiative.
    Ultimately, our goal must be to establish permanent conservation 
funding so that each new generation will have the resources to protect 
other critical lands across America. I am very pleased that the Senate 
Energy and Natural Resources Committee today approved a version of 
bipartisan legislation passed overwhelmingly by the House that moves us 
closer to that goal. I am fully committed to working with Congress to 
create a lasting endowment to support Federal, State, and local 
conservation efforts. Let us work together, in the spirit of today's 
historic conservation achievement, to strengthen, not weaken, 
environmental protections.

 Note:  S. 1892, approved July 25, was assigned Public Law No. 106-248.